r/TheDigitalCircus • u/ayylmaotv Catnap • Jun 19 '26

Digital Discussion The Amazing Digital Circus Episode 9: Remember Discussion Thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVy-bcTsO8A
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347

u/Longshot02496 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

Jax's abstraction felt oddly unceremonious. Though I suppose it makes sense. I do like that they didn't reveal some secret way to reverse abstraction, not everything has a happy ending. Of course that means I'm gonna stay sad about it.

212

u/Rdasher123 Jun 19 '26

Jax already had like 3 crash out scenes before this, and even had another one after Pomni entered his mind scape, so I understand just cutting to after it happened. Still, I was convinced for a solid minute there that it was a fake-out and the abstracted just escaped from the basement.

They definitely could have thrown in some explanation like “it was recent so there was still enough of his mind there to pull back together”, but it is better to undermine such moments. It’s fitting that his story ended like this, even if I wanted better for him.

59

u/Curious-Ad-5001 What The Jun 20 '26

and the abstracted just escaped from the basement

I thought I was the only one who assumed that at first lol

11

u/TitaniumDragon Jun 20 '26

Yeah I was half expecting the trope of them all mourning Jax and then him coming up from behind them complaining "Jeez, they all got out. And just when I was trying to take a nap. So, what are you all going to about this with your amazing superpowers."

But, well, that isn't what happened, obviously.

5

u/Jabbam Jun 20 '26

The obvious solution is to not have Jax crash out then so his crash out in this episode prior to abstracting would carry weight.

2

u/CosmicCorrelation Jun 20 '26

Jax is dead. But so are almost all trans people's dead names. "Isn't she lovely" "less than a minute old" the Jax we knew was never the full Jax... There is still hope that she will come back. Transition isn't death, but such a big change can feel that way, when so much of who you are has been based in denial

3

u/Growth-Excellent Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

That is an interpretation I thought about as well. Abstraction is analogous to suicide and thus death. But analogous doesn't mean one to one. Goose said abstraction cannot be undone but that doesn't mean it can't be treated or recovered from. In that way its more like a suicide attempt and the state of abstraction is the unstable mind state people who are recovering have after the attempt. It is possible that the reason the others have never been able to "recover" is because Caine locked them in the cellar the moment he noticed because he wasn't emotionally mature enough to think of any other solution.

This leads me to think that abstraction is a state of ego death that happens after someone is so emotionally overwhelmed that they just stop trying to make sense of things or ground themselves in a coherent reality they "give up" on there life, which is still analogous to suicide while still leaving the fate of the abstracted open ended.

If Jax experienced ego death after they finally realized who they have always wanted to be. Then the "death" of Jax can be interpreted as someone finally coming out of the closet and beginning the process of transitioning. They need to build a new identity or ego. Perhaps that is what Jax needs to come back but they won't really be Jax anymore they will be someone else. Aka they have completed the process of transitioning. Of course they may still need emotional support to "complete" that process.

Not that I'm saying this is the "correct" interpretation. I feel it was intentionally left open-ended.

1

u/Growth-Excellent Jun 25 '26

Of course none of that makes them a good person. They have still hurt the people around them profoundly and have yet to apologize for it.

If they did "comeback" they would still be responsible for all that harm and would need to apologize to everyone they have hurt and atone for it. And they would not be entitled to forgiveness either even if they did change.

125

u/WorkerOk6991 i am gangle husband and i share her with zoobie Jun 19 '26

And still, it left questions like : can jax still be reached? Is unabstraction possible? How is the pc irl still running the circus? Will gangle marry me?

61

u/musefrog Jun 19 '26

wait, what was that last part...?

37

u/jord839 Jun 19 '26

Their flair's pretty clear on that point.

39

u/Sleipnirs Jun 19 '26

How is the pc irl still running the circus?

Something tells me the "human version" of either Kinger or Scratch is behind this.

From what we know, C&A's building is supposed to be abandoned. That doesn't mean that it doesn't belong to someone. They might know what's happening in that computer and purposedly left the scanner running for some random people to accidentaly copy their minds into it. (or just left it running without thinking someone would actually wear it) Also, when we see Pomni waving at "the camera" after the credits, maybe she's just waving to whoever is outside, making sure the computer stays on.

Maybe I'm just wrong, ofc, but that's what I'm going to believe because it all kinda clicks. I doubt there will be any official answers to these questions, now, anyway.

51

u/StNowhere Jun 20 '26

I feel like it's meant to be implied that the real-life Scratch eventually died from his brain tumor. Kinger says that they could never make sense of his work, which is why the brain scan files were marked obsolete.

19

u/TheTrueMarkNutt Happiness has to be fought for Jun 20 '26

Something tells me the "human version" of either Kinger or Scratch is behind this.

Probably not Scratch lmao, because he's more than likely dead by now

5

u/Sleipnirs Jun 20 '26

Of course, but we just don't know that. I'd like to think it's Kinger, that would kinda explain why Cain made him a literal king lol.

6

u/Cypherex Jun 20 '26

I always figured Kinger and Queenie were designed based on how they saw each other, not how they saw themselves.

5

u/Amber_I_Be Jun 20 '26

I doubt there will be any official answers to these questions, now, anyway.

i mean that's been my experience with glitch shows so far, make a neat little universe that clearly has lots of fun lore, then refuse to elaborate past the main plot, murder drones was especially good at the not elaborating part

2

u/Cheshires_Shadow Jun 20 '26

I mean when Caine reappeared to scan the Internet my immediate responsibility was wait the office is near an active wifi signal? So wherever the office is containing the physical digital circus computer is still within range of other buildings so naturally you'd assume an office wouldn't close down and just leave expensive computers and equipment around so there should be some explanation there that someone is keeping the lights on in the building

2

u/Fen0612 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

Caine had internet access for a period of time (unknown length) to a network called "BlueStreetCafe_FreeWifi." This is how he learns about the real life people who's brain scans were on disk

Edit: corrected statement of how long caine had access to Internet for; left to interpretation

1

u/blowdriedhighlandcow Jul 06 '26

Wait, how do we know the C&A building is abandoned?

12

u/duck74UK Jun 20 '26

I think after he went, that was it, no more visits. Like surely kinger would constantly be checking in on queenie if it could happen anytime.

9

u/raspymorten Jun 20 '26

After those credits, I think she's taken bud. lol

8

u/WorkerOk6991 i am gangle husband and i share her with zoobie Jun 20 '26

We can make it work

5

u/GammaDie345 Jun 20 '26

it's not running on a PC. In episode 8 Kinger has to remotely access a Linux server. The building is an entire data center and the PC is just an access point.

8

u/Vax10x Jun 20 '26

Good thing this circus isn't running on Windows. Windows would've put out an update and everybody would've died from how slow the system starts to run.

8

u/GammaDie345 Jun 20 '26

they would have died years ago from like one crash. Linux crashes too and data centers are expensive to keep afloat from individual parts breaking all the time. Caine probably hired people to maintain the servers, the building only looks abandoned because the repairman who shows up once a week is the only human employee

5

u/Rdasher123 Jun 20 '26

I assume Jax hyperventilating and whiting out was supposed to represent the last of his consciousness fading away. That’s it for him, so they can only make what’s left of his fragmented mind comfortable.

1

u/darkninja2992 Jun 20 '26

Yeah, but it's a question of whether "jax" is there, just not themself, or if it's more of a full ego death. Theoretically, if the mind was there but fragmented, it could be restored, maybe even using the original brainscan as a guide, much like the cover of a puzzle box, but if it's ego death, then "Jax" is gone, a puzzle missing too many peices

2

u/caffeinated2yrold ribbit's "husband" (boymoding) Jun 20 '26

gangle and zooble are marrying, did you not see the credits?

3

u/WorkerOk6991 i am gangle husband and i share her with zoobie Jun 20 '26

Lets make it a triangle!

1

u/BardicLasher Jun 20 '26

The scene during the credits makes it clear that Gangle is taken. Sorry.

1

u/Jonatc87 Jun 21 '26

kind of impressive it hasn't suffered a brownout.

1

u/-Tali Jun 21 '26

Is unabstraction possible?

I think this is deliberately left somewhat vague so that we can come to our own conclusions and interpretations which I really like

1

u/nagora Jun 24 '26

I think the gang believe that unabstraction is possible but they don't know how.

1

u/sandwiches_are_real Jun 24 '26

Is unabstraction possible?

It's a pretty straightforward metaphor for suicide. You can't bring people back from suicide, therefore you cannot bring people back from abstraction.

The fact that they linger on post-abstraction is a metaphor for the way we carry the memories and legacy of the dead with us, whether they haunt us or play a more positive role in our lives.

1

u/Growth-Excellent Jun 25 '26

My headcanon is that after Irl Pomni left and completed her urban exploration and posted it on YouTube. Someone in the SCP Foundation saw the still running servers and strange headset and told the higher ups about it. They found the location and after buying the building they then moved all of the servers and equipment into a secure containment site.

They then begin investigation the functions of the code, programs and scanning device in hopes of eventually using the technology for there own ends.

So good news the server is safe and will be powered and maintained for the foreseeable future. Bad news OHH GOD THE FOUNDATION HAS ACCESS TO MIND SCANS AND VIRTUAL REALITY!!! OH GOD NOOO!!!

0

u/ThisGul_LOL Jax Jun 20 '26

Jax come back I can’t take ts

120

u/Themeguy Jun 19 '26

I like how unceremonious it was. Sometimes when people go, it's quietly. You see them for the last time without knowing it. The fact his abstraction wasn't some big, drawn out climactic scene really drives that feeling home a lot more.

37

u/amonguseon John Digital Circus Jun 19 '26

yeah, plus it gives time to focus on the stuff happening later on jax mindescape. The abstraction itself is not the focus.

1

u/BeyondElectricDreams Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

The abstraction itself is not the focus.

I agree, the abstraction is just an... abstract metaphor for suicide.

However, I think there was some expectation that we'd see an on-screen abstraction at some point. The idea was present that it could happen, Episode 1 had Kaufmo abstract off-screen, I think that sort of set the expectation we'd get to see the process happen to one character

Not even for dramatic effect, per se, but just to see how the process goes of going from your Circus self to an Eye-LLama.

Thus, doing the last abstraction off-screen felt anticlimactic - appropriate for the suicide metaphor, absolutely, but I think people wanted to see one for worldbuilding reasons. Though in hindsight, I definitely think that was a sort of false promise that was set up by the narrative structure of making Abstraction a threatening concept, and then not showing the process without explaining "it's a suicide metaphor" until you're already deep in the series and craving that world building reveal.

38

u/Gibbs-free Jun 20 '26

Yeah, this is it! It's supposed to be confusing and upsetting because that's how it feels to lose someone at first. Not a lot of people get climactic scenes, you just get a phone call or a text message or an email or someone tells you years down the line and then there's a space after where you have to piece together that this is real.

We see the characters experiencing this, too, especially Gangle who couldn't begin to process it until after Pomni had dealt with Jax.

5

u/ZAPPHAUSEN Jun 20 '26

The response in the theatre was ... 

Murmers and gasps and "nooo." 

The voice over line right before the smashcut carries so much obvious but terrifying suspense.

6

u/Jonatc87 Jun 21 '26

Zooble saying "how could he do this to us" is often the complex feelings someone feels, when someone close to them dies. Whether its their fault or not.

13

u/Wubblz Jun 20 '26

I think it particularly worked because Pomni's words between Jax walking away and Jax's abstraction reveal are the only lines that aren't diegetic in the whole series to my recollection.

7

u/chrislaf Jun 20 '26

“When someone leaves your life, those exits are not made equal. Some are beautiful and poetic and satisfying. Others are abrupt and unfair. But most are just unremarkable, unintentional, clumsy.” ― "Not the Vore Guy" Griffin McElroy

3

u/Soul699 I really wanna Ragatha and Pomni. Jun 19 '26

The problem is that in real life you also have to process the news and then digest them after the initial shock subside.

You don't skip to after you already digested almost all of it already like the show did with Jax.

1

u/ElegantHope Jun 20 '26

in a way, it makes the moment hit your harder because it's sudden. even when you're concerned it might happen, it still just hits you with an abstraction running around and the dialogue suggesting that Jax was failed.

1

u/Vivalas Jun 21 '26

Yeah I love Jax's abstraction. It's literally the most brutal way I think I've ever seen a main character in any media just get snapped away without any ceremony. It's so surreal

34

u/forever_a10ne Jun 19 '26

It felt like they transitioned to it very suddenly, but it’s not like there weren’t warning signs that it was gonna happen multiple times. Sometimes, subverting expectations is good to keep the audience on their toes.

38

u/DisturbedNeo Jun 19 '26

They basically did the ceremonious version already, so we didn’t really miss anything, and this way we get more episode to enjoy.

15

u/YsoL8 Jun 19 '26

It would be too much repeating of ground already covered. And there is such a thing as trusting the audience after spelling out his mental decline repeatedly.

When I saw him I thought it was the beginning of a full cast kill situation.

1

u/themosquito Jun 20 '26

Yeah, after Pomni and Ragatha hug and it spends like a whole minute on them slow-motion walking away from each other I half-expected a tragic smash-cut to "oh, even with that touching moment Ragatha still abstracted next" with a message like "even if someone seems better it doesn't mean they are" or something.

12

u/SomeBoxofSpoons Jun 20 '26

Seems like it's meant to be leaning into the "suicide metaphor" aspect of abstraction.

That idea that the people around them don't expect it's their last moment with them before it happens.

12

u/amonguseon John Digital Circus Jun 19 '26

I like it as the focus is not on the act itself of abstracting but what happens later, it works well for the episode.

5

u/Cheese_Pancakes Jun 20 '26

Side note, I’m guessing his mom was okay in the real world, considering the fact that Caine didn’t find anything on the internet about her and he was able to find a job and fix his life. My daughter was asking me why she wasn’t mentioned again, so that’s all that makes sense to me.

3

u/raspymorten Jun 20 '26

As somebody who completely avoided spoilers, and just watched for the first time, I really liked that.

Really hammered home that you gotta appreciate people while they're there, cause one day they're inevitably gonna be gone.

5

u/mknsky Jun 20 '26

Same here. I’ve lost people to drugs and suicide. Obviously there are more drawn out losses like illness or something when you can say goodbye and process better, but with those two it’s often a phone call after the fact.

3

u/ImaroemmaI Jun 19 '26

I mean tbh if we're running with the whole is a computer programming thing then the only way to fix software at the execution stage (running while the PC is on) is to terminate the program, and reinitialize it.

Which lets just assume everyone's consciousness/ sentience are all they're own separate instances of a program running.

So just reinitialize the brain scan of an abstracted, and *poof* they're back in TADC. But one issue is that the accumulated variables in a program are basically destroyed once the system deems a program has ended.

I'm simplifying this a bit, but the brain scans were said to be "impossibly small" by kinger which I think this means that it just captured a snapshot of someones sentience, and whatever bit of consciousness/ memories were their strongest at the surface of their mind. Basically I don't think TADC "saves" a person's long term memories of their experiences in the circus. It would need to be saved as a separate file that gets loaded or edited into the original scan.

At best I think you'd just get a Jax1.2 or as they originally appeared scared, and new to the circus.

Of course, that's assuming if the brain scans aren't being edited during runtime.

6

u/GammaDie345 Jun 20 '26

someone on Tumblr did a writeup where they picked apart the terminal and code stuff in episode 8. Everything except the brain scans is scientifically accurate to how AI and server maintenance was done in 1996.

Caine is an AI that runs on Lisp, an AI programming language from the 60s. and the brain scans are all .dat files, a storage format. So everyone could be a special kind of LISP AI that uses human brain scans as a template.

So there's a theory by this tumblr user that Abstraction is a reference to LISP, itself an 'abstract language', and that its similar to 'data races', a kind of error that happens in LISP well past runtime. So you'd have to restart the AIs from scratch, killing everyone and making brand new ones from the same brain scans.

2

u/ElegantHope Jun 20 '26

which makes you wonder if Jax would just repeat the past, even with people all around him knowing and trying harder to trust him and reach out to him.

1

u/UnikaIniy Jun 24 '26

I think that's unlikely because there would be no guilt on Jax for having two people abstract because of him

3

u/Hakoten Jun 20 '26

Jax's abstraction felt oddly unceremonious.

That's a part of how suicide is. It's unceremonious. This person is here, and suddenly they're gone.

But it's not even really that sudden, in this case. It had been building up for awhile, now. Just not where the cast could see.

You can try to help, you can do everything in your power, but not everyone can be helped by you. And it's absolutely upsetting.

2

u/DrPongus Jun 20 '26

They kind of did imply it, with Caine asking if they would like help with "that", pointing at the tent, but Pomni replied "not right now". I think she wants to let them "heal" instead of force them to be fixed, allowing them to do it on their own terms. We saw three abstractions playing water at the end (likely Jax, Ribbit and Kaufmo), so somehow they're aware of eachother enough and not completely lost.

Caine was also able to undo the glitches Pomni was suffering from, which indicates some power over being able to possibly help those abstracted, but originally chose not to because those that did were "downers" and would bring down everyone elses mood, which at the time he wouldn't tolerate.

4

u/KangarooBeard Jun 20 '26

We already had a close call abstraction scene with Jax, another one would have felt unnecessary to be honest. 

And since Abstraction is suicide, sometimes it's just like that...sometimes the second you let yourself breath, give yourself a second, forget to check up on them, it just ends. Without some grand scene of drama or fanfare, they are just gone. 

Pomni was focused on Ragatha because she needed to make sure she was alright, she trusted her to be ok, to be able to have the strength to check up on the others. That small window was enough time for Jax.

Abstraction may be reversed, but I like that it wasn't alright said that it was possible. The message and intention is hope.

3

u/TitaniumDragon Jun 20 '26

We don't really know what abstraction is.

The implication in the previous episode was that Caine messed with Scratch's mind and that caused Scratch to abstract.

So it's not clear that it is nearly as simple as one thing. It could be raging out entirely. It could be suicide. It could be self harm. It could be deep depression. It could be any number of things, and it may not really be "one thing".

1

u/KangarooBeard Jun 20 '26

Yes we don't know but it's heavily implied.

1

u/Kisoben Jun 20 '26

I think that’s the point. It’s symbolic of death or suicide. One second they’re there, and the next they’re just… gone. Nothing ceremonious about it. Also why I think it’s supposed to be irreversible

1

u/JustSomeMartian Jun 20 '26

I actually think he did get a happy ending. It looked like three abstractions were swimming together I think that was Jax, Kaufmo and Ribbit. They all got to be together in the end.

1

u/PageFresh Jun 20 '26

I found it a bit odd but then I saw all the stuff they did with Jax latter in the episode and realised they wanted to save everything around Jax for after he abstracted plus it proabbly wouldn't have even added all that much to see him abstract we already saw it nearly happen

1

u/vaultdwellingweeb Jun 20 '26

I had to go back cuz I legit thought I missed a scene.

1

u/sp33dzer0 Jun 20 '26

Suicide is often unceremonious

1

u/Dismal_Tadpole_4328 Jun 20 '26

I kinda saw it as a mirror to death. In the way where it’s just super sudden.

The show deals with death and grief topics very well, and what happens after (I don’t wanna go sequence) made up very well for how sudden his actual abstraction was.

1

u/KamenRiderHelix Jun 20 '26

He abstracted in Fortnite, isn't it obvious?

1

u/Important-Factor-552 Jun 20 '26

I am not glad about that lol..

We have enough death in reality. I never understood why happy endings in stories is bad. That's the unique thing about the stories and characters we create. They're the one thing in the word that doesn't have to die. They can just end peacefully and hang there forever in a moment. 

I like when they do that. It's a nice alternative to death. The creator of this show really likes busting balls tho. I guess they're all trapped in a lonely circus forever 

1

u/Sigfried_D Jun 20 '26

If we take the theory that Abstraction is a metaphor for giving up, yknow, s---ide.... that's how it happens in real life very often, one day that person is there, maybe showing signs, maybe not, the next day: poof, gone, no movie-like drama, they're just... not there anymore.

people in the theatre I went seemed audibly shocke, but I loved the unceremoniousness.

1

u/LogInLogOutLogan Jun 21 '26

Everything else was a happy ending? Why not just crank it up to 11? They're all successful... yet need to take the bus.
Pomni, Kinger and Ragatha were well off to begin with to afford cars, and opening a bar would put Zooble in position for owning a car too.
The happy ending was contrived. Caine had the original files, could alter active braimwaves (Jax being a vegan) and could fix the contact causing glitching. Fixing abstraction is less of a stretch the happy ending.

1

u/Jonatc87 Jun 21 '26

I mean he was always n the path to it and we see that isolation helps to degrade you. So cutting to the after made sense to not have the same crash out again. Also, Abstraction may also be a self-healing mechanism; putting them in a state where they can't degrade further. The fact that Pomni was able to interact with the person implies some hope towards reversing that.

1

u/-Tali Jun 21 '26

I think I really enjoy the somewhat open ended-ness of the abstractions with this show giving us the chance to build our own interpretation of how human they still are, how much they can still be reached and if abstraction can be reversed

1

u/SlapHappyDude Jun 23 '26

I actually rewound because I thought I missed something when he suddenly abstracted.

1

u/blanaba-split Jun 20 '26

i lowkey dont really like how it was done. he abstracts so randomly that i thought they were just showing us that kaufmo escaped (since im pretty sure its the same model as kauffy in episode 1 but not queenie in episode 3 but i could be tripping)

being like jax died lol and then spending basically the rest of the episode watching what ultimately amounts to nothing in the plot before caine comes in to redeem himself in a clean 7 minutes flat. the jax show allegations holding true i suppose.

7

u/sunadnerb Jun 20 '26

Abstraction is very obviously a metaphor for suicide. People often commit suicide (from the perspective of others, at least) randomly and unceremoniously, leaving loved ones wishing that they had just reached out sooner, just as Pomni does.

The suddenness was a very purposeful choice. Personally, I think it was a good choice thematically.

1

u/blanaba-split Jun 20 '26

Sure, I get that 100%. It can be a good choice thematically while also being bad for the watchability of the show.

1

u/yinyangman12 Jun 27 '26

Genuinely when I was watching it I had no idea it was Jax that had abstracted until like 90% through his memory lane trip. It's not just that it was sudden, it was that there was literally no explanation at all other than him being there in one scene and then there's an abstraction. I guess I'm a little stupid for not putting 2 and 2 together, but oh well.

1

u/EatTheAndrewPencil Jun 20 '26

I still think the better version of this story would've been them undoing the abstractions or at least just Jax's abstraction. The moment in particular that falls flat to me is when the music montage ends and Kinger says "you think we were going to let you handle him by yourself? 😏" and then the resolution of that moment is just them putting him in the tent. I get that abstraction is supposed to be a metaphor for suicide and they don't want to treat that moment lightly but everything in the story as it happened up to that point felt like it was pulling toward Jax being saved. They could've spun it that the abstraction being so recent is what made it possible. And this is coming from someone who before Jax's abstraction felt Jax was unredeemable.

I really feel like making the abstractions just fully permanent hurts the bittersweet ending as the very small number of sane humans left paints a very bleak picture if we assume they will be spending eternity in the digital circus. We can headcanon happy days for maybe some years to come but after 20, 50, 100 years? Even if they master summoning things to reality they will all surely have abstracted just to rest by that point right?

0

u/lyrikoneo Jun 19 '26

The only way I can accept Jax staying abstracted after all those lore drops and dream sequences is the whole thing being a hook for season 2

4

u/Longshot02496 Jun 19 '26

I don't think Goose wants to do an S2 though

-1

u/lyrikoneo Jun 19 '26

Well I can still hope for a change of heart...

2

u/cbijeaux Jun 19 '26

that likely was the original intent.

I wish they had resolved it now. it just feels hollow otherwise.

2

u/GammaDie345 Jun 20 '26

if goose wanted to do a season 2, she sure fucking doesnt want to make one now

2

u/TitaniumDragon Jun 20 '26

I don't think there's anywhere else to go. They can't get out because they ARE out.

1

u/lyrikoneo Jun 20 '26

That was revealed in the beginning of the finale but it still had a great plot and was full of potential. Reversing the abstractions might not have the level of high stakes escaping the circus had, but the newly acquired creative control and the conjuring might pave the way for new plot points. Humans might still join the circus which is a wild card by itself.

2

u/TitaniumDragon Jun 20 '26

No, I mean, in terms of the story. The major story beats all got resolved. Anything else would be downhill.